7 snowstorms in 6 weeks. That’s the recipe for a white Christmas in Minnesota in the epic weather year of 2010.

Our latest storm has dumped another shot of snow on Minnesota, and a bonus coating of glaze ice to boot.

As of Tuesday morning there’s a cool 14″ of snow on the ground (snow depth) at Twin Cities Airport. If we maintain that number into Saturday (Christmas Day) it will be the “whitest Christmas” in 14 years. The last time we had this much snow on the ground on Christmas Day was 1996…with 18 inches.

It looks like a white Christmas for much of the nation this year. As of today 46% of the lower 48 states is covered by snow according to data from NOHRSC.

It’s interesting to note that the USA snow cover map looks very similar to last year at this time in terms of overall coverage. One notable exception is the lack of snow cover in the northeast USA, including Boston and New York City.

Latest storm dumps more snow:

Monday’s quick hitting storm swept through southern Minnesota with a fury, and still lingers in the north today. It did make for a pretty interesting “Snow & Ice Bowl 2010″ for the Vikings last night. Playing outdoors in that was weather probably the most interesting part of the game for Vikings fans. (But that opening touchdown drive was pretty sweet! If that’s the last touchdown drive we get to remember Brett Favre by in Minnesota, it works for me.)

Here are some snow totals from around the state from our most recent snowstorm.

The next chance for snow comes Thursday. It looks like the brunt of the storm will slide through southwest Minnesota and Iowa, with the Twin Cities on the edge of snowfall. We’ll need to let the models resolve the northward extent of snow with this system, but plan on snow if you are travelling south or southwest Thursday.

About the blogger

Paul Huttner is chief meteorologist for Minnesota Public Radio. Huttner has worked TV and radio stations in Minneapolis, Tucson and Chicago. Paul is a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul and holds a bachelor’s degree in geography with an emphasis in meteorology.

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After hearing about this blog for many moons on the radio I finally tried it out and was instantly hooked.I’ve lived in Hovland near Grand Marais since 1973, so I appreciate when you talk statewide. I logged for many years and am now doing residential const. so weather has always been important to my work but I also believe the sacred is in the details and weather is a rich field to mine for details. I check this blog daily ,sometimes 2-3 times so thank you for your effort